I just came across this thread and decided to voice my frustration. I have a 169/3.65 (with an MS and PhD) and was waitlisted by Vandy a while ago. I have been accepted to two T-14 schools and waitlisted at three others so I don't think my personal statement was completely atrocious. I was also seriously interested in attending Vandy because I really like Nashville, and I assume they got that vibe from my personal statement. Anyway, I guess I don't have a clue what happens in an adcomm's head. Vanderbilt can lick my balls.

A student who does well at one of those schools will likely do well at any of those schools. I think they are all much too close in prestige and student body talent to say someone near the bottom of his class at school A is better (in terms of future job prospects) than someone near the top of his class at school B.

I am also quite sure that many schools admit at least a portion of students onto the law review based on the writing competition alone (I believe Harvard is an exception). However, someone at the bottom of his class will likely not perform as well on the writing competition as someone with better grades.

1. I would have applied binding early decision to Chicago. I was rejected, so it may not have helped at all, but at least I would have shown them how much I wanted to attend. Yale and Harvard were pipe dreams anyway.

2. I would have spent more time on my personal statement. Although I think I could work on that thing for a year and still not be happy with it.

3. I would have retaken the LSAT. 169 and 97th percentile (with an MS and PhD) sounded much better when I received my score than it does now.

I got my waitlist letter today. I am going to stay on, and am about 99% sure I would accept a spot, if it was offered. But as you said, I am not very optimistic about my chances. I definitely don't have any new information I could send to make me stand out.

You are right. As I reread my post, I realize that sentence doesn't fit very well, at least not without some clarification.

That sentence was related to the experience from my interacial relationship. It seemed as if my girlfriend received more negative comments/reactions from black people than I did from white people. But of course as you point out, my sampling pool may be drastically skewed from society as a whole.

I will start by saying that I am a white male. I have attended three universities, all in the Great Plains where a majority of students are white. I will also say that I am very excited to attend a law school in a city with more diversity.

If someone chooses to date exclusively within their own race, who cares? I am not running your life, and couldn't care less about your dating habits.

Now here is my anecdotal two cents (completely unscientific), and I am speaking in generalized terms. I prefer dark hair and dark eyes, I really don't know why, I just find those traits very attractive physically. I find many hispanic and black women attractive, but I also find them very intimidating to approach. This is partly due to my general insecurity and shyness with women. I also believe that approaching women of a different race is intimidating because I don't know if they share my views about interacial dating. Up to this point I have only dated one black woman and no hispanic women . We had a great time, but it just didn't work out. I think you can learn a lot about life from someone who is completely different from yourself.

From my experiences, I find that many black people seem to be more racist than the white people I know. In the predominantly white schools I have attended, many black men (many of which are athletes) date white women and it seems that both view each other as a trophy. From the black men that I have talked to, it seems that a lot of them want to "bang" white girls, but would only seriously date or marry a black girl. I think a lot of white girls want to find out just how "big" a black guy is. Some of course are serious relationships, but a lot of them just seem to be about sex.

I do think that black girl/white guy relationships are becoming more common. I believe that one reason may be the belief (generally speaking) that white men treat women better than black men, and black women who have had a few bad experiences with black men are willing to give white men a try. I also believe that white men are becoming more open to dating outside of their own race (doesn't everyone like a nice butt?).

Anyway, date who you want, but I do believe that limiting your relationships (friendship or dating) to people just like yourself truly limits your life experiences. I realize that I have spoken in generalized terms in my post, but in reality every individual is different and cannot be placed neatly into a category (which probably makes my post stupid and irrelevant), so please keep the hate to a minimum.

Southern girls just don't do it for me. I think I would get very sick of the southern accent. I have never been to SMU, so maybe the women are very attractive, but I just think of Harriet Miers. Not cool.

I prefer dark hair and dark eyes, so I am thinking the hispanic girls in the Southwest (Arizona, ASU, New Mexico, schools in Southern Cal.) would be the best bet for me.